KBDD Paddles/Tail Blades on Kyosho Caliber 700!

[Ah Clem]

I have about 30 flights on the Caliber 700 now, trying various things as I learn the helicopter and continue to tune and adjust it.

One of the first things that I changed very early were the tail rotor blades. The stock blades are nicely made from a very flexible, white plastic. They work fine but, IMHO, they do not allow one to take full advantage of the extremely precise Push/Pull tail set-up on the Calibers. Swapping them out for KBDD tail blades of the same length provided immediate improvement of the tail in both hold and precision.

I was reluctant to swap out the paddles as, with the stock paddles, the helicopter is incredibly smooth on cyclic (also very precise). It also has a very gentle feel. I never flew the stock paddles with the weights installed and also had, from the start, used the more aggressive setting/ball mounting on the Bell/Hiller mixing levers.

Today I removed the stock paddles and installed 50 sized KBDD's. The helicopter is still beautifully smooth but now moves aggressively when desired. Rate of flip and roll is much, much faster, but there is no loss in stability.

For me, a huge improvement in the cyclic response of an already beautiful flying helicopter.


And yes, I am biased...
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[gouki74]

i would love to try out them kbdd paddles on my sdx. but they look awfully familiar with the jr thin 3d paddles jrp996056. i don't know if our LHS carries kbdd paddles but i saw they had tailblades. how similar are the kbdd paddles to them jr 3d paddles? the jr paddles did increase the flip and roll rate on my jr before, so no doubt using the kbdd paddles will be the same, only cheaper which is a definite plus!

[Ah Clem]

I apologize, I have not seen the JR paddles that you mentioned, so I do not know if they are similar or not. Sadly, there are not too many JR helicopters where I fly locally (Whittier Narrows and the Rose Bowl lawn).

I have converted my Knight 3D, Trex 600N, Atom, Caliber 700, Trex 450 Pro, and both Trex 450 SE's to KBDD paddles and tail blades-all with similar results:

No loss in stability and much quicker cyclic. Better, more precise tail control.


And yes, I am biased...

[gouki74]

I apologize, I have not seen the JR paddles that you mentioned, so I do not know if they are similar or not. Sadly, there are not too many JR helicopters where I fly locally (Whittier Narrows and the Rose Bowl lawn).

I have converted my Knight 3D, Trex 600N, Atom, Caliber 700, Trex 450 Pro, and both Trex 450 SE's to KBDD paddles and tail blades-all with similar results:

No loss in stability and much quicker cyclic. Better, more precise tail control.


And yes, I am biased...


you should be glad there are not that many jr helis where you fly. here, i DON'T hear anybody flying any jr heli! i wanted to see a vibe50 up close but nobody flies them. the jr vibe500e i have seen and it is a great looking machine but it was just a display on the jr distributor store :( the jr distributor also is the only shop carrying kbdd tailblades. i will ask if they have them kbdd paddles :)